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Lawyers seek justice 7 years after Antique massacre

Philippines | Visayas

Lawyers seek justice 7 years after Antique massacre

By Tara Yap

ANTIQUE 7

ILOILO CITY — As part of the International Humanitarian Law Month, a group of lawyers continue to call for justice seven years after the Antique massacre.

“Until now not one of the perpetrators has been prosecuted or punished for this atrocity,” said the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers-Panay (NUPL-Panay).

In August 2018, Felix Salditos, Peter Mecenas, Jayson Talibo, Liezel Bandiola, Jason Sanchez, Eldie Labinghisa, and Karen Ceralvo were killed in a police operation in San Jose de Buenavista, the provincial capital of Antique.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) claimed they were members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

They allegedly fired at lawmen serving warrants of arrest for frustrated murder against Ceralvo and Talibo.

NUPL-Panay and other groups claim they were staff members of the National Democratic Front (NDF) in the peace talks.

“NDFP personnel who are not members of the NPA and do not directly participate in hostilities enjoy protection under IHL and cannot be subjected to attacks,” the NUPL-Panay noted.

“Even captured NPA fighters are entitled to humanitarian assistance and protection from torture and other forms of abuse. They certainly cannot be extrajudicially killed. Yet time and again, state forces have been implicated in the abduction, torture, and summary execution of NPA fighters and members of the NDFP,” added NUPL-Panay.

NUPL-Panay reiterated that what happened to the Antique 7 is one of the many cases of impunity allegedly committed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the police.

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